Private Equity Health Care Acquisitions – January 2021

February 8, 2021

In light of the growing investor interest in health care and the risks associated with private equity ownership of health care companies, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project will be tracking private equity-backed health care acquisitions. Below is a list of private equity health care buyouts and add-on acquisitions completed during January 2021. We will continue to track acquisitions on a monthly basis.

See December 2020 acquisitions here.

Interim Healthcare – Levine Leichtman Capital Partners

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners’s Interim Healthcare in January acquired home health and hospice franchises in San Diego, CA. Interim Healthcare is the US business for Levine Leichtman’s Caring Brands International, which operates home health and hospice franchises internationally. This is the third acquisition made by Caring Brands International in the last six months; it acquired hospice franchises in Ireland and Australia in June and November 2020.[i]

Levine Leichtman owns multiple other health care companies, including Genova Diagnostics, Capsa Healthcare, Monte Nido, Suvet, and Therapeutic Research Center.[ii]

Two of Levine Leichtman’s health care companies paid to settle lawsuits with the US government alleging billing fraud last year, including Interim Healthcare.

In March 2020, an Interim Healthcare franchise paid $1.75 million to resolve claims that it defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by submitting claims for patients not eligible for the hospice benefit. The government alleged that the company’s business practices resulted in the submission of false claims, including “setting aggressive goals for enrolling patients and failing to supervise properly the admission practices of its staff and medical directors.”[iii]

In April 2020, Levine Leichtman’s Genova Diagnostics, a clinical laboratory services company, agreed to pay up to $43 million to resolve allegations that it billed for medically unnecessary tests.[iv] The complaint in the lawsuit alleged that, “Genova, at the direction and with the knowledge of its owners and managers and in a wrongful effort to increase revenues, systematically bills Medicare and Medicaid for the Panels’ tests.”[v]

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners V and multiple Levine Leichtman directors were named as defendants in the suit. The complaint stated that Levine Leichtman is a controlling shareholder of Genova, that Levine Leichtman Directors constitute a majority of its board of directors, and at all relevant times Levine Leichtman controlled the company.[vi]

Audax Group

Private equity firm Audax Group was particularly active in January, making at least ten health care acquisitions.

Audax’s dental services company 42 North Dental acquired three new practices: JD Howard Dental (New Hampshire), Restorative and Aesthetic Dental Associates (Maine), and The Center for Pediatric Dental Care and Orthodontics (Massachusetts). 42 North now operates in 88 locations.[vii]

United Urology Group, Audax’s urology practice management company, invested in Urological Associates of Southern Arizona and Arizona Institute of Urology.[viii] Audax formed United Urology Group in 2016 when it acquired Chesapeake Urology Associates.[ix]

Active Day, Audax’s adult day care company, acquired Community VNA in Massachusetts and Our Father’s House in Ohio.[x]

Audax’s Axia Women’s Health acquired Care First OB/GYN Group, a women’s health clinic in New Jersey. Audax formed Axia in 2017 as a platform a variety of women’s health specialties. Audax is now reportedly looking to sell Axia.[xi]

Audax also acquired Texas ENT Specialists and combined it with its South Florida ENT Specialists. Both companies provide services to ear, nose, and throat (ENT) practices.[xii]

Finally, Audax partnered with Linden Capital Partners to acquire StatLab Medical Products, a manufacturer of medical prodicts.[xiii]

Audax previously owned prison healthcare company Correct Care Solutions, which was sued at least 1,395 times.[xiv] Correct Care’s founder has been indicted for bribery that allegedly occurred while Audax owned the company.[xv]

Add-on acquisitions

Company Name	Acquiring entity	PE Firm	Type
Syntactx	North American Science Associates	ArchiMed and Ares Capital	Clinical research
Sun Nuclear Corporation	Mirion Technologies	Ardian, Charterhouse Capital Partners and Bpifrance	Medical devices
Progressive Radiology	Solis Mammography	Ares Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners	Medical imaging
Arizona Institute of Urology	United Urology Group	Audax Group	Urology
Care First OB/GYN Group	Axia Women’s Health	Audax Group	Women’s health
JD Howard Dental	42 North Dental	Audax Group	Dental services
Restorative and Aesthetic Dental Associates	42 North Dental	Audax Group	Dental services
Texas ENT Specialists	South Florida ENT Associates	Audax Group	Ear, nose, and throat
The Center for Pediatric Dental Care and Orthodontics	42 North Dental	Audax Group	Dental services
Urological Associates of Southern Arizona	United Urology Group	Audax Group	Urology
Community VNA	Active Day	Audax Group	Behavioral health
Our Father’s House	Active Day	Audax Group	Behavioral health
Bridgeway Health Services	Reliant Home Health	Broadgate Capital and Merit Capital Partners	Home health
Eyes of York	Vision Innovation Partners	Centre Partners	Eye care
Clarion Brands	Bridges Consumer Healthcare	Charlesbank Capital Partners	Pharmaceuticals
Drexi	Advanced Medical Pricing Solutions	Cimarron Healthcare Capital, RAF Industries, Leavitt Equity Partners	Health care billing services
Saliency	Bioclinica	Cinven	Medical devices
Grace Hospice & Palliative Care	Traditions Home Health Care	Dorilton Capital	Home health and hospice
Traditions Home Care	Traditions Home Health Care	Dorilton Capital	Home health and hospice
Secure Home Care	Traditions Home Health Care	Dorilton Capital	Home health and hospice
Heritage Hospice	Traditions Home Health Care	Dorilton Capital	Home health and hospice
Farley Center	Summit Behavioral Healthcare	FFL Partners	Behavioral health
Hometown Rehab	CORA Health Services	Gryphon Investors	Physical therapy
MediDrapes	Infab Corporation	Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company	Medical supplies
HIPAA One	Intraprise Health	Health Enterprise Partners	Health tech
MicroWorks	Infinity laboratories	Imperial Capital Group	Microbiological testing services
Keystone Physics	Associates In Medical Physics	L2 Capital Partners	Radiation services
Mednow Urgent Care	Xpress Wellness Urgent Care	Latticework Capital Management	Urgent Care
Midatlantic Urology	Solaris Health	Lee Equity Partners	Urology
Interim HealthCare (San Diego Franchises)	Interim HealthCare	Levine Leichtman Capital Partners	Home health and hospice
Slice Manufacturing Studios	Avalign Technologie	Linden Capital Partners and Harvest Partners	Medical devices
American Renal Associates	Innovative Renal Care	Nautic Partners	Dialysis services
Community Eye Center	Quigley Eye Specialists	New Harbor Capital and Dellin Investments	Eye care
Docent Health	GetWellNetwork	Pamplona Capital Management	Health tech
Midwest Eye Center	EyeSouth Partners	Shore Capital Partners	Eye care
PEDIA (Chicago)	Redwood Dental	Silver Oak Services Partners	Dental services
Marketware	Medsphere Systems	Sixth Street Partners, NextEquity Partners	Health care marketing tech
Project Farma	Precision Medicine Group	The Blackstone Group, Berkshire Partners, TPG Growth, Vida Ventures (Boston), and Oak HC/FT	Biomanufacturing
Exscribe	Modernizing Medicine	Warburg Pincus, Summit Partners and Mayson Capital Partners	Health tech
Associates In Gastroenterology	One GI	Webster Equity Partners	Gastroenterology
Companion Hospice (California Operations)	Bristol Hospice	Webster Equity Partners	Hospice
ExceleraRx	Shields Health Solutions Holdings	Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stow	Health tech
Dr. Joseph Newmark (Dermatology Practice)	Schweiger Dermatology Group	Zenyth Partners, LNK Partners and LLR Partners	Dermatology
Montgomery Dermatology	Schweiger Dermatology Group	Zenyth Partners, LNK Partners and LLR Partners	Dermatology

New PE investments/buyouts

Company Name	PE Firm	Type
Coastal Occupational	Akeso Medical Holdings and Kain Capital	Occupational health
Genezen Laboratories	Ampersand Capital Partners	Biotech and pharmaceuticals
StatLab Medical Products	Audax Group and Linden Capital Partners	Medical supplies
Healthcare Fraud Shield	Charlesbank Capital Partners	Health tech
CareMetx	General Atlantic	Health tech
Valeo Home Healthcare	Grant Avenue Capital	Home health
Corza Medical	GTCR	Medical devices
Crothall Laundry Services (Arizona)	H.I.G. Capital	Health care laundry services
Electron Microscopy Sciences	Inverness Graham	Medical supplies
Femwell Group Health	LightBay Capital	Women’s health
CoreRx	NovaQuest Private Equity	Contract development & manufacturing
Careismatic Brands	Partners Group	Medical apparel
Southern Scripts	Water Street Healthcare	Pharmacy benefits management
Kiniciti	Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe	Cell and gene therapy
PrecisionMed	West-Atlantic Partners	Biopharmaceuticals